Category: Penland People

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Marsha Owen Scholarship Fund Announced

A studio potter for over thirty-five years, Marsha Owen traced the origins of her career to a Penland workshop. Believing that “there is always something to learn from the clay,” she would return to Penland again and again to learn and to find inspiration.

In the wake of her untimely death, Masha’s friends and family have come together to found a Penland scholarship in her memory, celebrating her life and carrying on her legacy. The goal is to raise $100,000, creating an endowment which will fund the cost of a Penland clay workshop in perpetuity. We invite you to make a gift in Marsha’s honor.

About Marsha

Marsha Owen and friend and mentee Wei Sun created the mugs for the 37th Annual Penland Benefit Auction in 2022.

Marsha Owen took her first pottery course with John Givvines at the North Carolina State Craft Center. “I was a slow learner – I took the beginner’s course three times – but I knew almost immediately that this was work I wanted to pursue,” she said. 

Working as a self-employed potter for over thirty-five years, she concentrated on utilitarian pieces for everyday use. Marsha and her husband, Rick Moss, collaborated in their home studio in Raleigh, North Carolina where Marsha was the primary potter and Rick ran day-to-day operations for their business and contributed his handbuilding and relief carving skills to the work.

Marsha worked extensively with colored slips, stains, underglazes, various resist techniques, carving and texturing as well as the more common glazing techniques of dipping and spraying. Her work includes an impressive variety, all stamped with the Marsha Owen imprint.

“What many might not know about Marsha but was evident in her ceramics, is that she was an outstanding baker and cook,” said Kathryn Gremley, Penland Gallery Curator and friend of Marsha’s since 1984, when they were both residents. “Her work was beautifully designed for pairing with food— the forms and colors thoughtfully considered for what could be served from them, or how they would fit in the hand— always working to create the perfect dish that we would value for both its function and simple artistry.”

Marsha and Penland

Marsh Owen (right) and Elizabeth Brim (left) at a Penland Benefit Auction in the mid 1980’s. Marsha is holding one of her famous chocolate carrot cakes, made for the occasion.

Marsha first came to Penland as a student in 1978 with Rebecca Plummer and Jon Ellenbogen. “That was, without question, the class that gave me my career,” said Marsha. Following that initial visit to Penland, she attended numerous classes including concentration courses and summer workshops. Marsha was a Penland core student in 1981 and resident artist from 1984 to 1985. 

Penland helped start Marsha’s pottery career and continued to be an important part of her life. Over four decades, Marsha was a frequent student, visiting artist, and winter resident. Her pots have long been a staple of the Penland Gallery. “For Marsha, Penland was not only a teaching and learning place, but also a sanctuary where she could renew her connection to the ceramic community and find inspiration for her work,” said Wei Sun, Marsha’s close friend and colleague.

Marsha Owen Scholarship


Ice cream bowls created by Marsha Owen

A skilled potter with close ties to Penland, Marsha Owen passed away unexpectedly on July 7th, 2023. Because Marsha loved her work and sharing her knowledge, family and friends are championing the Marsha Owen Scholarship as a way to celebrate her life and carry on her legacy. With support from family, friends, and the community, the scholarship will be established as an endowment, covering the full cost of a workshop in ceramic studies to selected candidates every year.

If you would like to support the Marsha Owen Scholarship, please Donate Here.

Note: Many companies have gift matching programs which will double your donation. If you are interested in a gift matching program, please contact Wei Sun (weisunpottery@gmail.com) for details.

Learn more about Penland’s scholarship program HERE.
Find Marsha Owen’s obituary HERE.

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Wood Firing with Dan Finnegan


Wood firing at Penland is a time–honored tradition. We asked instructor Dan Finnegan, who is currently at Penland teaching a six-week concentration, to tell us more about this exciting undertaking:


Tell us about this recent wood firing?

This is a kiln that I built with a class ten years ago in 2013. I actually built the last two wood kilns here with Kevin Crowe who is a great potter in Virginia, so it’s kind of great to get back with this old friend of ours. This is a three chambered kiln.

We fired it very differently than it was intended to be fired. Usually when you load this kiln it’s full of big pots that are not decorated very highly. Then you fire the first chamber  for three days and build up tons of wood ash on the pots and once that’s to temperature, then you stop stoking it and you move onto the next chamber. The waste heat from the first is preheating the next and the next.

That would normally be a two– to four–day firing, but this time we fired the wood kiln in a day. We made it do something that it wasn’t intended to do. It was a little bit of a challenge.


How did it go?

We think it went really well, but we won’t really know until we open the kiln. Then it’s either Christmas or you’ve been very bad that year. There’s probably 400 or 500 pots in there. It’s most of the work that we have made in this session. We only did three small firings in the Julia kiln, so this was an all our eggs in one basket kind of firing.

Did you fire more quickly to save time or to achieve a certain effect?

Probably both. We have been doing a lot of decorating with slips, etc. in this class, so those long firings would obliterate all the efforts we made. You have to marry the firing to the sort of surfaces you want.

We fired the kiln fast because we didn’t want a ton of wood ash on the pots. We wanted the heat from the wood. Wood does cool things. It flashes and reacts with the clays and makes beautiful random soft surfaces. I had a certain aesthetic in mind for the class and then we fired the kiln to achieve that aesthetic.

You’re the wood fire guy?

Well, there’s lots of wood fire potters, but I’ve been coming here and doing this for some time. I have a 50 year relationship with wood firing. This is all I do. I have a beautiful wood kiln that I built fifteen years ago and I’m going to fire it as long as I possibly can. I put salt in my kiln. Salt melts the brick so my kiln is melting.

Eventually, I may have to do something different. Eventually, I won’t be able to fire wood. Physically, it’s really a lot of work. From the preparation to the loading to the actual firing. I must have gotten down on my knees 300 times during this firing. I can do that. We had a great day, but my body is a wreck today. I only slept for two hours over a 48-hour period to nurse it along. It’s a very arduous process, but one that I love. What I really love is that it takes two days for the kiln to cool and that’s how long it takes me to get over the firing, haha. That’s true at home as well.

What’s it like doing a wood firing with students?

Wood firing is also really mentally engaging. You’re just putting wood in a hole, trying to get it to be 2,400 degrees. You’re trying to get it even. There’s certain times when you’re messing with the atmosphere. You’re trying to get it to be oxygen rich or oxygen depleted. Atmosphere affects the surface of the pots, so there’s lots of little decisions all the time and the challenge is the delightful cacophony of sixteen students who are all curious and want to know. At home, I live a very quiet life. I plan to go home and be really quiet when the session is over.

One of the great things about wood is that everybody has to be engaged. Everyone is putting wood in the kiln and in the shifts we have people do different jobs. Everyone is getting a taste of each part of it. And then they get to decide where they want to go when they leave here.

Interested in exploring wood firing at Penland?

Consider Matt Jones’ workshop this summer…

A very special thanks to student Lizzy Eichorn who took the wonderful photos featured in this story. Watch the video!

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Julia Woodman to Receive Lucy Morgan Award

Master silversmith Julia Woodman teaches us it’s never too late to be extraordinary.

Julia Woodman with her piece “Computer Aided Pine Cone” in the Penland iron studio

Recently celebrating her 90th birthday, Julia continues to push the limits of metalsmithing, a craft she took up in her fifties.  Julia will receive the Lucy Morgan Award at the 38th Annual Penland Benefit Auction.

Julia Woodman
Computer Aided Pine Cone, 2017
Steel, copper
38 x 17 x 17 inches
Donated to the 38th annual Penland Benefit Auction

Julia Woodman is a smith: a person skilled in making things. In her case, things made of silver and steel. She is also one of Penland’s best friends. 

Her remarkable career in craft began at a time of life when many folks are starting to slow down. She completed an MFA in metals at Georgia State University when she was 62, and then, in 1998 (the year she started drawing Social Security) she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Finland where she became the first American to receive a Master Silversmith diploma. 

Julia Woodman, Kenny Pieper, 2014
Gong Cocktail Service and Black Reticello Martini Goblets
Sterling silver, purpleheart wood, shakudo, fine silver, blown glass
Collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Since receiving her Master Silversmith diploma, Julia has made commissioned pieces, won awards, and taught workshops. Her work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Dallas Museum of Art, and the High Museum of Art (Atlanta). A major piece commissioned for the 2014 Penland auction (pictured above) became part of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Julia Woodman
Fish slice, 1992
Silver, gold plate, citrine
12⅘ inches inches long
Collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Juila’s connection to Penland began in 1986 when she started taking metals workshops every year to supplement her university studies. After her MFA was complete, she switched from metals workshops to iron workshops, and, she says, “I became known as the Old Lady of the Iron Studio.” She continued taking classes in the iron studio well into her 80s. In the last few years she’s been exploring lighter materials such as books and paper. Her workshop total now stands at 28. 

 

Julia working with a student in the Penland metals studio in 2010

Julia started volunteering for the auction in 1997 and has continued to do so up to the present. For many of those years she was accompanied by her lovely husband, Richard Woodman, who passed away in 2012. Julia has taught silversmithing at Penland six times, most recently in 2022. She has supported the school through contributions and by regularly donating her work to the auction. And Penland has a scholarship named in her honor that was endowed by Julia Wilson and other friends. 

Julia Woodman
Woven Majesty Teapot, 1991
Sterling silver, padauk, copper, and silver
13 1/2 x 8 x 5 1/4 inches
Collection of High Museum

When asked why she is so devoted to Penland, Julia immediately said,

Because it’s so incredible to go there. At Penland I learned how to not be afraid of making a mistake. And that was my goal as a teacher: to teach students to stop being afraid of mistakes. Because when you can do that, then you can really make art.

Julia will be presented with the first Lucy Morgan Award in honor of her extraordinary relationship with the school at the 38th Annual Penland Benefit Auction.

Bubbles Champagne Cocktail Ladle #2, 2021
Sterling silver, glass bread by Barbara Becker Simon
15 x 3¾ x 2¾ inches
Donated to the 36th Annual Penland Benefit Auction

The making of the “Computer Aided Pine Cone”

This piece was created at Penland in 2017 during a workshop with Vivian Beer. Julia told us:

Vivian had the manufacturer of the computer aided plasma cutter send the cutter to Penland. The twenty-two parts were cut out in less than forty five minutes. I was thrilled at being able to see my itty bitty tesserae being transformed so big. I took each piece to the 50 ton hydraulic press in the iron studio to round them into shape, then stacked them accordingly. They can be re-stacked in two different ways. I’d be happy to show you.

Find the Computer Aided Pine Cone at the 38th Annual Penland Benefit Auction. Get your tickets  HERE!